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GFDA 2018 AGM

by Ellie (Skyveld)

Hosted at Wits on 14 April 2018

18:57 (30 minute rain delay pushed schedule back) Fergus Klein, the outgoing Chairperson, officially opened the GFDA 2018 AGM and welcomed everyone. There were 36 members of the Gauteng Ultimate community in attendance, as well as numerous players from other regions.

2017/2018 Highlights

Rocktober 2017, was the biggest tournament in Africa with 20 teams, including 4 international teams, and a turnover just over 123k rands was recorded.

Included Heritage Day outreach event with French sides running clinics for four of the participating Soweto schools, as well as scrimmaging Dream Ultimate in preparation for the tournament. Ah Ouh Puc also brought very generous donations (kit, disks etc.) which have been shared with not only with the Gauteng Ultimate community but also to Wild Coast Ultimate, Swaziland Ultimate and Mozambique Ultimate.

Becoming a social partner of Aria Ultimate, and the subsequent Human Rights Day Tournament in Soweto

Each time someone buys an Aria disc, they will have the option to donate a disc to our Soweto Schools program.

The GFDA is considering having Aria as the official disc sponsor for Rocktober.

Launch of Soweto Schools training program, where Baden Dowie will hold coaching sessions every Friday during Term 2 and 3 at Jabulani Technical School in Soweto.

It was also highlighted that there is now a possibility for Dream players to attend as Soweto Ultimate has been without training grounds for the last year.

A New relationship with Mr Bheki was also highlighted by the committee and this was with the intention that this will enable GFDA to expand the programme to 40 new schools in Soweto.

Binnelanders 2018 was the also biggest inland tournament ever with 12 teams competing in the weekend spectacle. This was a marked increase in the number of teams participating compared to the 8 teams that competed in the preceding years

Fundraising for Soweto Ultimate to attend Opens/Women’s Nationals (OWN) in 2017, the committee expressed their immense gratitude to Baden Dowie for this contributions towards soliciting international donations and for assisting with Spur fundraising event held.

2017/2018 Challenges

The committee indicated that although the year was an overall success, there were some challenges experienced, such as commitment from teams that will actually attend events that they agree to, and following through with requests.

Discussion around accountability for SAFDA

In 2017, SAFDA generated over 14k rands in player fees from Rocktober, in 2016 over 11k rands. The meeting questioned what these funds were used for.

Perception that some players are being “taxed” three times for WFDF fees by attending three SAFDA sanctioned events. The meeting also requested that the committee investigate the possibility that players competing in WFDF events just pay the WFDF fee ?

The meeting also voiced its frustration regarding the outdated SAFDA drive that contained stale information which made it difficult to hold SAFDA accountable.

The meeting requested that the committee raise the above-mentioned queries at the upcoming SAFDA AGM later this month, and the GFDA Secretary was tasked with sending these topics to the SAFDA Secretary for inclusion in the agenda.

Discussion around Womens

Karien Scribante noted that last year, a group of representatives from each team who took over Gauteng Women decided to hold a fantasy league. This was very successful.

Gauteng Women has circulated a Google form to query the ladies of the community as to what they would like this year (2 sessions a week, or matches every week, or half and half, as well as the level of competitiveness they are looking for).

Financials

Justus Immelman, Finance, gave an overview of the GFDA’s financial position:

2017/2018 Financial Year – General Report

April 2017 to March 2018

2017/2018

2016/2017

2015/2016

OPENING BALANCE:

R26,484.59

26,583.73

EVENT INCOME

R178,764.73

77,810.00

123,973.50

DONATION INCOME

R19,934.75

13,845.00

36,802.21

SALES INCOME

R11,447.76

19,330.00

9,310.00

FUNDING INCOME

4,823.28

FELIX TRAINING

7,240.00

FELIX TRAINING EXPENSES

(11,524.13)

ADVERTISING

-R3,478.21

(3,578.62)

BANK CHARGES

-R1,609.95

(1,171.49)

(1,483.37)

DONATION EXPENSES

-R14,964.87

(6,000.00)

(2,943.16)

CONSUMABLES

(4,851.05)

(5,205.00)

COST OF SALES

-R11,111.24

(12,811.60)

(9,643.53)

SAFDA PLAYER FEES

-R14,630.00

(11,790.00)

(13,500.00)

EVENT COSTS

-R128,562.78

(71,420.53)

(110,726.92)

CLOSING BALANCE:

62,274.78

26,484.59

26,583.73

Contained in the above closing balance are two ringfenced funds, the WFDF Fund and the Soweto Fund. These funds are to be used for specific purposes, mostly in support of development initiatives, and have the following balances:

WFDF Fund: R8 584.75

SOWETO FUND: R8 869.23

What’s next for Gauteng Ultimate ?

The new website will be launched shortly, with the following objectives:

have a more professional presence which will enable us to attract sponsors;

provide an easy reference point for our community (reducing ad hoc queries); and

entice international teams to enter our annual Rocktober tournament.

The GFDA has been awarded the bid for WFDF’s All Africa Ultimate Championships in June 2019.

Each National body will be awarded one spot in the tournament, with additional spots allocated space permitting.

Discussion about compensation for Ultimate administration.

The size and professionalism of our community has moved beyond purely volunteer work. We cannot expect our administrators to continue to take on such large amounts of work without any sort of compensation.

The mentality of the community must change in this regard.

ExCo Election

After 3 years of service it was time for the GFDA’s current ExCo (Fergus Klein, Ellie Tournier and Justus Immelman) to say goodbye. Baden Dowie gave a heartfelt thank you from the community, and hugs and beers were shared. It has been lots of fun and hard work, and we feel that we have left the GFDA in a strong position for the new ExCo, both financially and organizationally.

The GFDA ExCo vote took place. In the role of Chairperson, Sipho Mhlambi stood unopposed and was elected. In the role of Secretary, Karien Scribante was nominated and seconded from the floor after none of the original nominated people agreed to stand. She was elected. In the role of Finance, Johann Greeff stood unopposed and was elected.

Handover of the GFDA will take place over the next month to ensure a smooth transition.

Questions

Travis Myburgh advised the community that he would be running for SAFDA and would like to know if Rocktober dates were flexible as he envisioned it being moved to correspond with proposed calendar changes. Ellie responded that while everything can be discussed, this year’s dates are fixed and the field availability depends on the polo season. It is also not preferable to modify as consistency and reliability is key to bringing international teams to the tournament (Africa Windmill Windup).